A shoulder to lean on

Part 3 - Now it all makes sense

His eyes were still blurry after reading all of those papers from Kristen's lawyer, sitting in the court house with her mere feet away, it sickened him to even hear her breathe. Her little lover boy was sitting behind her and she only continued to sit there with a smirk on her face, making it clear that she was happy with what she was doing to her family.

The judge went over everything that Kristen was asking for from the marriage, which was a lot more than Lindsey wanted to sacrifice; that being the house with the studio. He worked hours on end to get that place right and made more than a few personal albums in there. How could she ask for that when it included most of his life?

He pinched the bridge of his nose to keep from crying, listening to her speak about why she deserved the house more than him, that it was for the children to continue to prosper in - which when she laid in to why she should keep all three of the kids, Lindsey bringing up the fact that William was old enough to decide on his own, she went in to a tizzy on how he would not be able to provide the nurturing with his career. Though it was true that Lindsey was away for long periods at a time, he was incredibly loving and more nurturing than she could sometimes ever be!

Lindsey's whole day was ruined, somehow her being able to once again get underneath his skin. He took the whole rest of the day to himself, walking along the Santa Monica pier, watching young and old lovers pass him by. No matter what he did, the way he felt about how he'd hurt Stevie all those years ago, nothing could have prepared him for his current diabolical. Did he deserve it?  Maybe. Did he ruin his only chance to ever be with her again?  Possibly. Could he ever turn her on Roger?  He had no answers to these questions but the more he thought about everything; Kristen cheating, his sexual performance, possibly losing his children, Stevie in a relationship - it was impossible to believe things could go in his favor.

Returning to Malibu, Stevie was on the couch in the Living room with a bottle of wine, lost in her own thoughts as Lindsey came waltzing in. The sound of the front door closing catching her attention as she placed down her glass to turn her head, watching Lindsey remove his jacket and hanging it on the coat rack. She was waiting for him to come back, worrying obsessively about where he was since it was late in to the evening; he'd left the house that morning.

"Where have you been?"  Stevie asked, almost as if they had plans.

"What do you mean?" Lindsey responded as he tossed his car keys on to the table in the hall.

"You know what I mean. You left at eight o'clock this morning and it's going on ten."

"I'm sorry, I went for a drive and took a walk near the pier. Where's Roger?"

"He's working."

"At this hour; he has a client?"

"Yes."

"Well okay," shrugging as he headed for the staircase, Stevie following him.

"Where are you going? I thought maybe you could talk to me about how everything went."

"You want to know?" stopping in his tracks as he turned.

"Of course! Lindsey, I sat here thinking about you all day!"

That brought a smile to his face, for once he felt like he mattered to someone, walking in her direction. "Besides making me physically and mentally ill," scoffing a little, "...she's asking for the house to continue to raise our children in. She has no heart when it comes to this at all, knowing that my studio is attached to the house, everything that I own is in there and not once did she seem to care. I was told, by her, that I cannot properly nurture  our children because of the type of career I have; in other words I'm in no shape to raise the three of them on my own. The judge has a soft spot for me, I think, but there's a lot of truth to why she should get the house and the children - not that I think I couldn't do a better job."